Following some criticism of its 2011 Razr smartphone, Motorola has a new, and hopefully improved, update in the Razr Maxx – but is it any good?

While the 2011 Razr was far from a bad phone, boasting an impressive 4.3 inch display with 356 pixels per inch and a Super AMOLED panel, poor battery life and a continually evolving smartphone market meant it soon became outdated. So Motorola hoping the Razr Maxx will succeed where its predecessor has failed.

Improved battery

As the main downside of the original Razr, the new Razr Maxx claims to offer enough juice to keep your phone powered for almost one month (over 600 hours).

While this is, as of yet, untested in the real-world, it is undoubtedly going to be an improvement on the original, whose pitiful nine hours talk-time has been upped to 17.6 hours in the Razr Maxx.

Disappointing appearance

While the aesthetic attributes of the Razr were never a cause for complaint for mobile users, the lack of improvement in the Razr Maxx is a real disappointment.

With numerous smartphones boasting full HD displays, the Razr Maxx falls behind – even the impressive display credentials of its screen fail to match the iPhone 4S.

Despite this, the resilience of the model remains one of its main selling points with the use of splashguard coating, a Gorilla Glass display and a tough exterior shell all a bonus.

Motorola Razr Maxx specs

In terms of overall specifications, the Razr Maxx performs amicably. The 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM work in perfect harmony to make operating the phone’s applications quick and easy, while an 8MP camera takes a decent picture – albeit one which lacks the clarity of rivals such as the HTC One X.

As one of Motorola’s Android models, the Razr Maxx handles the 2.3 Gingerbread OS amicably, with an upgrade to Android 4.0 planned for the end of this quarter.

Is it worth it?

Still costing a fair few hundred pounds, the Motorla Razr Maxx may be a little steeply priced for some consumers when compared to other models.

While the improvements from the original model are unmistakable, the phone struggles to compete with the advanced technologies of rival manufacturers and this means it already looks, and feels, a little dated.